Walgreens Told to Pay $25.8 Million Over Teen Pharmacy Tech's Error

A prescription error caused a massive stroke that left Beth Hippley crippled and forced her to stop needed chemotherapy. Her cancer returned and she died in 2007.

ABC News

A Florida appeals court has upheld a $25.8 million judgment against Walgreens over an error by a teenage pharmacy technician that resulted in a mother of three receiving blood thinner pills with a dosage ten times greater than prescribed.

Beth Hippely of Lakeland, Florida, suffered a massive, crippling stroke after taking the pills and was forced to stop treatment for early stage breast cancer. She died in 2007, before the case went to trial.

The judgment against Walgreens was one of the largest ever because of a prescription error and the appeals court upheld it without comment last Friday.

The lawyer for the Hippely family, Karen Terry, said "justice has finally been served after eight years in which Walgreens has dragged out this litigation."

"If they don't change things they are going to continue to see judgments and maim people," said Terry, the Hippely family lawyer.

There is no minimum national standard for the training of pharmacy technicians who are supposed to work under the close supervision of licensed pharmacists.

'The Same Level of Training as Someone Working in Fast Food'

Walgreens would not comment on the Hippely case ruling, but said, in a statement, "We continuously work to improve quality, accuracy and service and we provide continuous training development programs for all pharmacy staff."

Critics say the major drug store chains have adopted a "fast food" culture to enhance profits, pushing pharmacists to oversee the prescriptions filled by as many as four or five technicians at a time.

"In fact, a lot of the people working in the pharmacy have about the same level of training as someone that would be working in fast food," said Trent Speckhals, an Atlanta lawyer now involved in a number of prescription error lawsuits.

"Forgetting to put your fries in the bag isn't going to lead to any harm, but obviously we're dealing with something much more serious with medicine," he said.

In a lawsuit he is bringing against Kroger's, Speckhals said pharmacy technicians complained of being overworked and afraid to take time to go to the bathroom.